Brad Keselowski took the lead when Elliott Sadler was penalized for jumping a late restart, then held on to win Saturday in a controversial finish to the first NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Sadler passed Keselowski on a restart with 18 laps to go, but officials ruled that Sadler went too early, so they black-flagged him. Sadler stayed on the track for several laps, apparently hoping officials would reconsider the penalty, before finally coming in with 12 laps to go and giving up the lead to Keselowski.
An agitated Sadler said Keselowski spun his tires on the restart – a brief loss of traction that would slow Keselowski down – and Sadler said he had no other choice but to surge forward because cars were stacking up behind him.
Keselowski went unchallenged to the finish on the historic 2.5-mile oval.
Sam Hornish Jr. was second, and Sadler finished 15th. Enumclaw’s Kasey Kahne finished 25th, and Seattle’s Tayler Malsam was 29th.
PIT STOPS
Denny Hamlin won the pole position for today’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Vancouver, Wash., native Greg Biffle will start fifth, and Kahne qualified 15th. Kahne is coming off a win in the series’ previous race, July 15 at Charlotte. … Cruz Pedregon raced to his fourth No. 1 Funny Car qualifying position of the NHRA season at Sonoma, Calif. Doug Kalitta led the Top Fuel field, his first No. 1 since 2010. … Lewis Hamilton of McLaren will start from pole position at the Hungarian Grand Prix after winning the qualifying session ahead of Romain Grosjean and world champion Sebastian Vettel.
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